


Siren Song

by HeyK47



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Eventual Smut, F/M, Not Beta Read, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-14 22:53:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20608661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeyK47/pseuds/HeyK47
Summary: This is probably a self-indulgent story. I'm going to try to make the characters as realistic as possible, but I'll be honest that my OFC feels pretty OP and a bit early 2000's Mary Sue-ish. Read if you want, or don't. I accept constructive criticism.If you do choose to read this, you'll be rewarded with eventual smut. The good kind.I update every Tuesday/Wednesday.





	1. Chapter 001

It was supposed to have been an easy mission. Just a simple locate and extract; very covert. But now, with his vibranuim arm encased in metal bars that had been welded to the wall and his flesh arm chained to the floor, Bucky realized just how complicated the mission actually was. He contemplated where it all went astray as he stared at the unconscious figure on the floor in front of him. The chain around their ankle was thick and attached to the opposite wall of the small, dank, cell.

“Hey,” He called quietly, nudging the figure with his boot. “You need’ta wake up.” He nudged the figure’s leg again and tried calling out to them again. “Hey, come on. I know I haven’t exactly been hospitable or even friendly, but we’re in some pretty dire circumstances, so I need you to wake up.”

Bucky was about to nudge the figure again when the chain attached to their ankle suddenly began to drag across the floor as they pulled their leg underneath them and pushed themselves into a sitting position. Storm-grey eyes regarded Bucky from beneath a curtain of damp, dark, waves; taking in his predicament. The figure pushed the hair out of their face and turned their gaze down to their own bounds. Slender fingers touched the shackle and pulled at the lock to no avail.

“You can’t open it like that. We need the key.” Bucky explained, holding up his own shackled wrist and rattling the chains a bit.

The figure turned their face back to Bucky and glared in annoyance as their lips curved down in a frown. They pointed from the chains to Bucky and then huffed.

“Yeah, yeah. I know.” Bucky replied, slightly irritated at being called out without a single word. “I got us into this. But look,” He continued. “I have a plan to get us out.”

A questioning look formed on his companion’s face in the form of a single raised eyebrow and pursed lips. They waved one hand in a lazy circle, urging Bucky to explain his plan.

“You’re going to have to do _the thing_.” He replied. “Get them to set us free and never come after us.”

His companion’s expression immediately shifted to a mix of anger and annoyance as they pushed their hair behind their shoulders and gestured to the shiny, silver, hoop that adorned their neck. It was nearly half an inch wide and hummed gently with a continuous electric charge that was generated from the aortic pulse of its wearer. The silver adornment was nothing but a streamlined shock collar when it came down to brass taxes, and it currently was keeping Bucky’s companion from speaking or travelling more than twenty feet from him at any time. There had only been one instance where the figure had tried to remove the collar when they thought Bucky had been asleep, but the moment they touched it, the collar had sent a strong shock through their system, rendering them stunned for the better part of three minutes. Over the course of the ten days that they had been held captive and been forced to travel covertly to “The Compound”, as Bucky had continued to call it, the companion realized that the collar responded to the metal bands that had been locked around their wrists and resembled bracelets.

“You’re going to have to take it off.” Bucky explained. When his companion held up their wrists, showing off the sliver bands secure on them, he sighed. “Yeah, I’m going to help you with those first.” He caught the mistrust that crossed his companion’s face and sighed. “I know you have no reason to trust me, but we have to work together if we want to get out of this alive and,” He paused for a moment before adding, “I promise I won’t put the collar back on when we’re free.”

His companion let out another huff, their face contorting into one of disbelief while still eyeing Bucky.

“I swear. No more collar.” Bucky urged. “But we don’t have a lot of time. Okay?”

His companion seemed to think for a moment before nodding their head and looking to Bucky for further instructions.

“Good.” Bucky said as he breathed a sigh of relief. “Alright, they searched both of us before locking us up, so I don’t have the key to your collar or the inhibitors anymore.” He looked to his companion’s wrists and then back up at their face. “Put the inhibitors under my foot. I’m going to break them off.”

The companion’s eyes widened and they clutched their wrists close to them while fervently shaking their head no. They’d watched Bucky stomp a man to death with one boot and cave another’s chest in with a halfhearted kick.

“I promise you won’t get hurt. You just have to trust me. Come closer and put your wrists down.”

After what seemed like an eternity of hesitation, Bucky’s companion scooted across the floor until the chain around their ankle was taught and they were close enough for Bucky to see the color in their eyes subtly shifting from storm-grey to a lighter grey, like clearing skies after a hurricane. They shared a long look before his companion placed their wrists on the ground near Bucky’s feet. They squeezed their eyes shut tightly as he raised his foot and brought his heavy boot down against the inhibitors and split them at their closures. The metal fell off his companion’s wrists and onto the stone floor with a clang. Instantly, his companion began to rub at the freshly freed skin around their wrists and then gingerly reached up to touch the collar. When there was no shock, they grinned and inhaled deeply as though they were about to speak again.

“Don’t!” Bucky exclaimed. “It’ll still stun you if you speak.” He explained to the confused face of his companion. “But you need to hurry and take it off. I can hear the guards down the hall and they’re heading this way.”

The companion nodded and reached up to their neck once more before tugging at the metal band. Their deft fingers flitted around to the back where the closure was securely fastened and they began to dig and pull at it, trying to break it and free themselves from the collar. The realization that the collar wouldn’t open without force dawned upon both Bucky and his companion at roughly the same time. They looked at one another for a moment before the grey-eyed companion laid their head down and Bucky stomped twice and broke the collar off, bruising his companion’s jaw with the last stomp.

There was a yelp as his companion began to pull the metal from around their neck and realized that it had embedded itself into their neck. With a whimper, they looked to Bucky, who hadn’t known that the collar would secure itself in such a way.

“Oh hell.” He whispered, horrified as his companion began to pull at the metal again. “Stop!” He exclaimed. “Stop. We’ll figure something else out. Don’t pull at it anymore.”

The overcast eyes suddenly shifted to a color that reminded Bucky of the deep sea. It was a blue so dark it was almost black. His companion inhaled deeply before wrapping their fingers around the metal and slowly ripping it out of their skin, leaving holes in their flesh around the circumference of their neck. Clear fluid dripped down their body from the holes torn around their neck and with a final tug and a hiss, the companion removed the collar and threw it across the room. Their head hung low, covering their face with the curtain of dark hair once more, as they breathed heavily in an effort to shut out the pain.

“Sing?” A single word, in a voice soft from disuse, fell from their lips.

“Yeah.” Bucky replied, feeling something shift in his chest. “Sing.”

Bucky’s companion sat up until they were eye to eye with the former Winter Soldier. Their eyes had shifted from the color of the deep ocean into a blue like Caribbean water. Gentle hands cupped Bucky’s face on both sides and turned his head first to the left and then to the right as soft lips brushed against his temples and undecipherable words were whispered in each ear. His breath caught in his chest as the same soft lips came closer to his own, but diverted to the bridge of his nose at the last moment.

“What was that?” Bucky asked breathlessly as his companion’s hands dropped away from his face and they scooted back across the small space of the cell. He felt a small rush of something coursing through him.

“Protection.” They replied quietly.

“Protection?” Bucky inquired. “From you?”

“Yes.”

Bucky was going to say that he didn’t need protection from his companion and their powers, but the sound of the soldiers stopping outside the door echoed through their little cell and he hung his head, allowing his hair to cover his face and hide the fact that he was awake. His companion took his cue and laid back on the floor, allowing their own hair to also mask their face.

“Are you sure about this?” A soldier asked as the door opened. “You’ve heard the stories.”

“They’re just stories.” Another soldier replied. “And even if they weren’t, there’s a collar on her neck that I’m betting keeps her from making any noise.”

The two men entered the cell and gave a cursory glance towards Bucky before turning their attention to the prone figure on the floor.

“Morning, sweetheart.” The bolder soldier chuckled as he bent down and shook the young woman. He pulled her to a sitting position and gave a start at the sight of the blood soaking the front of her dress. “What the-?”

Before he could react any further, the young woman opened her mouth and began to vocalize in a hauntingly alluring tone. Both men stood transfixed as she continued her melody, all the while disarming them and taking their keys. She unlocked herself and stood before making her way over to Bucky and unlocking his flesh arm and sliding a rifle over his shoulder. She slipped a pistol into his thigh holster and then moved back towards the immobile soldiers.

“Come to me.” She called to them, holding out her hand.

The first man moved towards her and she slid one hand along the side of his face, staring deep into his eyes with her, once more, Caribbean blue gaze. She brought the soldier’s face in closer and pressed her lips to his own for a moment before pulling back. The man began coughing violently and then fell to the floor, drowning from the inside. He clutched his throat and his eyes bulged as he continued to choke on the water coming from inside his own body.

The second soldier blinked and shook his head, falling out of the woman’s spell. He reached for his gun, only to find it missing. Without hesitation, he pulled his fist back and smashed it into her frail face. An inhuman scream filled the space of the cell and the woman fell to the floor, clutching her face. Bucky took the moment of distraction to rip his arm free of the metal bars that had bound it to the wall. He kicked the feet out from under the enemy soldier and quickly released two rounds into his chest as he fell.

“Come on, Doll.” Bucky urged as he scooped up the young woman and they began to make their escape. They snuck down the halls until they reached the room that Bucky remembered behind disarmed in. He pulled them into the now empty room and closed the door behind them before covering her mouth with his hand as another patrol passed, unaware that their prisoners were gone.

After the patrol passed, Bucky removed his hand from the woman’s mouth and tilted her face up so he could see her clearly. A vicious bruise was already purpling the skin around her eye and her eyebrow was split open and leaking the same clear fluid her neck had earlier.

“Are you okay?” He asked, releasing her face.

“No.” She replied, turning back to the door and peering out the small window set into it. “Danger.”

Bucky looked out the window as well just in time to see a fair number of soldiers running down the hallway in the same direction they needed to go. Moments later, the alarms began to blare and the corridor filled with the sounds of fighting. Without wasting another minute, Bucky grabbed his things off the table where they’d been left and reequipped himself with his knives and guns. He tucked his com-link into his ear and turned to the young woman, who was still staring out the window, watching as the soldiers ran towards the only exit of the fortress.

“We’re going to have to fight through them.” Bucky stated plainly before wrenching the door open, drawing his weapon and tucking the woman behind him as he advanced down the hall. A shriek from behind him alerted him to still more enemy soldiers and he barely dodged a flurry of bullets from their guns as he shoved the both of them into a small alcove that provided the barest of shelters from the gunfire.

“Shit!” He swore, shoving the woman against the wall and covering her with his own body. “We’re pinned, Doll.” He continued to fire at the enemy, alternating his shots to each group. “We’re so fucked.”

The young woman let out an exasperated growl before touching Bucky’s gun and then pointing out to their approaching enemies.

“You shoot.” She explained. “I sing. We fight.”

“I don’t think that’s going to work this time, Doll.” Bucky replied, popping around the wall and firing a few more shots before ducking back into the safety of the small alcove and turning his head to look at her.

“Hey.” She said with authority, drawing Bucky’s attention. She grabbed his face and looked intensely into his eyes before stating, “No reason to trust. I trust.” Her eyes scanned over his face before asking, “You trust?”

Bucky stood in shock for a moment before a bullet burying itself into the wall near them snapped him back to reality.

“Yeah.” He nodded. “Yeah, I trust.”

“Okay.” The young woman replied with a nod and a small curl of her lips before releasing Bucky’s face, grabbing his hand and pulling him out into the fray with her. “Follow!” She shouted before the haunting melody came from her again and she began to advance towards the entrance of the building.

Bucky covered them from behind, only looking over his shoulder when he began to pass bloodied bodies, some without throats and some without heads. One man was still clinging onto life, trying to scoop his guts back into his abdominal cavity as they advanced towards the sounds of fighting. The woman was covered in blood and was ripping through the flesh of the soldiers like they were tissue paper. Her teeth were bared and Bucky realized then that more than just her canines were sharp. They passed through a solid door and Bucky kicked it shut behind them before breaking the lock, rendering it unable to be opened. He turned to help his companion with the soldiers in front of them and watched as she jumped onto a man’s back. When the man shouted in surprise, she shoved her hand into his open mouth pulled his skull in half before tossing the top half to the ground like it was nothing. Her eyes were wild and she moved in a deadly frenzy as she sprang onto another enemy.

“Bucky, come in!” Steve’s voice sounded over the comms. “Buck, where are you?”

“If I’m right, we’re on the other side of this battle.” Bucky replied.

“We?” Natasha’s voice came through.

“The…uh…I don’t know her name.” Bucky replied, dispatching more enemies as his companion continued to tear into bodies like a wild animal.

“You didn’t take off the collar, did you Tin Man?” Came Tony’s voice.

“No choice.” Bucky snapped. As soon as he answered, the woman began to vocalize again, stilling the soldier that had a gun pointed at her head. Bucky took aim and dropped the man with a single shot. “Hey, no more singing.” He explained as he grabbed the blood-soaked arm of his new companion.

“I sing. You shoot.” She replied, indignant.

“I know. I’ll explain later. No singing!”

The fighting suddenly resumed and Bucky pulled her along with him as they fought to get to his teammates. After some time, the battle died off and Bucky walked across the bloodied ground in front of the fortress with his companion in tow.

“Danger.” She hissed, pointing at the other Avengers as they appeared around the battlefield. She began to move towards Natasha when Bucky grabbed her from behind and restrained her.

“No!” He exclaimed, holding the struggling woman tightly. “They’re not dangerous. They’re friends.”

“I’m touched, Tin Man.” Tony remarked sarcastically. “Let’s put her out and get her back to Fury.” He came forward with another collar and the young woman began to panic.

“NO!” She shrieked, fighting against Bucky’s hold. “You swear!” The woman thrashed and kicked and struggled to free herself, all the while ignoring Bucky’s pleas for her to calm down. “You SWEAR!” She hissed before sinking her teeth into the flesh of his forearm and slicing at his leg with her sharp nails. She didn’t cut deeply enough to hurt him, just enough to startle him into loosening his grip for a moment. She used the distraction to kick against him and free herself before running as fast as she could away from the Avengers.

“Steve, no!” Bucky shouted as his friend took off after the woman. He raced after them, ignoring the blood slowly running down his leg.

When he caught up to Steve and the strange woman, she was singing again and Steve stood still and transfixed.

“Wait.” Bucky called out to her, holding his hands out in a nonthreatening way as he slowly advanced towards her. He passed Steve, briefly shifting his gaze to make sure his best friend was otherwise okay before turning back to the strange woman. “You’ll freeze out here.”

The woman’s eyes shifted from Steve to Bucky as she slowly backed away towards the icy water of the sea behind her. Her feet found the edge of the snowy ground and she stooped down before sliding her legs into the water. She stopped singing and stared hard at Bucky.

“No reason to trust.” She growled before disappearing into the dark waters.

Bucky raced to the water’s edge and stared hard at the darkness beneath the surface, trying to figure out where the strange woman had gone.

“Buck?” Steve questioned from behind him.

Bucky turned around as Steve began to blink and shake his head to rid himself of the brain fog.

“What…what happened?” Steve questioned. “Where’d she go?!”

“Into the water.” Bucky replied. “She’s gone.”


	2. Chapter 002

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is work is trash and I'm so sorry but I have to get this ridiculous idea out of my head to make room for better ideas. If you really need an idea of what kind of person is writing this trash work, I'm the kind of person that recites old Vines to myself as motivation while writing.
> 
> P.S. A sailfish swims at 60 knots. It's the fastest animal in the ocean. I did a lot of research and math for this chapter and whilst creating my OFC.

It had been months since the last sighting of the mysterious woman Bucky had failed to bring in. After she had disappeared into the freezing Antarctic waters, Bucky assumed she had perished. The guilt had eaten away at him every night, disturbing his already minimal sleep, until one day an intern rushed into the end of an Intel meeting with a red folder. He handed it off to Fury, who spent a quick moment skimming over it before turning to the rest of the gathered team and addressing them.

“Our little musical friend is still alive.” He told them, dropping the folder on the conference table and spreading out the pages contained within. “As some of you know, we’ve been monitoring the intelligence channels and media outlets for any leads. There have been some sightings, but nothing concrete. If it was her, she doesn’t stick around long enough to be found.”

Fury turned to Bucky and Natasha and addressed them both while sliding the folder and its contents towards them.

“Romanov and Barnes, I want the two of you on this. We’ve got to bring her in before HYDRA or someone else finds her.”

“We’re on it.” Natasha replied, taking the folder and beginning to read the documents inside.

The meeting ended and Bucky took the recently vacated seat next to Natasha and grabbed the papers she’d already read. They sat in silence for a moment before a quizzical look crossed her face.

“Is it just me or does it look like she’s-” She began.

“Travelling in a very specific pattern?” Bucky finished. “Yeah. Now the only questions are-”

“Where is she going?”

“And how do we find her first?”

Bucky pulled up a map on the computer and started entering in the locations and time stamps of each of the sightings as Nat read them out.

“There were reports from both the Davis station and Port-aux-Français within thirteen hours of each other. Both stations reported seeing someone coming out of the water and disappearing into the snow.” Nat began.

“Those stations are at least 1400 miles from each other. How fast would she have to be going for both of them to report seeing her on the same day?” Bucky asked. “That’s not a human speed.”

“I think we’ve established that she’s not human, but you’re right. That is incredibly fast.” Nat replied. She scribbled a few calculations on one of the pages and added, “We can get Bruce or Tony to confirm, but if my math is right she’s swimming at about 100 knots.”

“That’s faster than a sailfish.” Bucky pointed out. “They only swim at about 60 knots.”

“What’s a sailfish and how do you know so much about it?” Nat asked with an amused smirk.

“It’s like a swordfish, but faster.” Bucky answered. “And I watch Nature Shows when I can’t sleep. Did you know there are octopi with blue blood?”

“Alright, Nature Boy.” Nat chuckled. “Let’s get back to work.”

“Right.”

“The next place there was a similar report was in Bunbury, Australia. But that was nearly twenty-six hours later…something doesn’t make sense.”

“Oh?” Bucky inquired.

“So, if she was moving at 100 knots, it should have taken her nearly twenty-three hours. She would have had to rest before surfacing in Bunbury. If she did, then she’s moving faster.”

“Well, the Davis Station report and the Port-aux-Français report said there was blood trailing behind the figure.” Bucky noted. “But nothing was mentioned about blood in the Bunbury report. So either she took a rest and healed, or Bunbury is a false lead.”

“Let’s leave it marked and keep working for now. There’s a report from a Queensland news outlet of a woman disappearing into the water off the coast of Somerset.”

“How long after Bunbury?”

“About four days; which would be right if she were travelling by car.”

“Okay, where next?” Bucky asked.

“Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, two hours and fifteen minutes after disappearing in Somerset.”

Bucky nodded and added Bunbury, Somerset and Port Moresby to the points on the map and studied the path they were making.

“The rest of the points…” He began in a questioning tone, “do they all keep heading northeast?”

Nat was quiet for a minute while she read the list of other sightings and plotted them mentally on the map. There was Wewak, where she was seen getting off a plane that had no record of her being on board, then Lorengau, where she had been spotted just that day.

“Yeah.” Nat confirmed. “How did you know?”

“It was just a guess. She was moving southeast when I caught up to her before. First in Yokohama and then in Ogasawara. What’s between there and the most recent sighting?”

“Guam’s the biggest place. I mean, there’s a few small islands, but really…just Guam.”

“Looks like we’re going to Guam.” Bucky stated. “I’d bet a week of dishes we catch up to her there.”

“Well, alright. You’re on, Barnes.” Nat grinned as the two of them left the conference room and quickly headed to prep for the mission and board the Quinjet for their five hour flight to Guam.

Bucky and Nat disembarked the Quinjet five hours later in Guam and were immediately greeted by sweltering heat and stifling humidity.

“Barnes, you better be right about this.” Nat groaned. “It’s unbearable here.”

“I hope I am.” Bucky replied as they grabbed their gear and Bucky hailed a taxi. “But hey, if I’m not, at least we get a vacation.”

“This is not where I’d take a vacation, personally. I prefer the mountains.” Nat groaned, following Bucky to the taxi that had stopped to pick them up. She tossed their bags in the trunk and flopped into the backseat, doing her best to look like just another tourist. Bucky climbed into the backseat as well and gave the driver the name of the hotel they’d booked for the next few days.

A few hours later, Nat and Bucky were settled in separate but adjoining rooms, and had begun to set up the equipment that would monitor the area and notify them of any possible sightings of their target. It didn’t take them long to get everything up and running. It took them even less time than they planned for before the first possible sighting showed up. A local twenty-something posted a picture of himself and a young woman on his social media feed with tags to a restaurant across the island. Although the woman shared similar facial features as their target, both Bucky and Nat were disappointed to learn it wasn’t the right person.

“This might take a while.” Nat sighed.

“What if she doesn’t show up? What if I was wrong?” Bucky questioned.

“Then we keep tracking her. She’s got to surface eventually.” Nat replied. “For now though, we should do our best not to blow our cover.”

“You’re right.” Bucky agreed with a nod. “You ready to take in the sights then, sister of mine?”

“After you, brother.” Nat grinned, following Bucky out of the room.


	3. Chapter 3

“Barnes. It’s been nearly a month since we got here and three days since the last possible sighting. I don’t think she’s coming.” Natasha groaned from her spot on the bed.

“She’s coming.” Bucky replied flatly. “I know I’m right about this.”

“But _how_ do you know you’re right?” Nat asked, propping herself up on one elbow to look at Bucky seriously. “You keep saying you just know, and I believe you. I just really wish you’d tell me how you’re so sure she’ll show up here.”

“I-” Bucky began, hesitant. “I can’t explain it. I just feel it. I know she’ll show back up here.”

“Well can your feelings give up some sort of timeline? I miss my own bed.”

Bucky shook his head and turned to look out the window at the coast line. He wasn’t sure how he knew the woman would show up, but every day he felt increasingly sure of it. He also knew that if she didn’t make an appearance soon, Steve would pull them out and bring them back to the complex. They were needed for other missions after all, and this recovery mission had already taken over twice the originally estimated time. As if the universe had heard his thoughts, the secure phone line began to ring.

“Everything okay?” Nat asked after pushing the speakerphone button to answer it.

“Have you had any luck?” Steve’s voice came from the other end of the line.

“No.” She replied, purposely not mentioning Bucky’s evidence-lacking sureness.

“Buck, you there too?”

“Yeah.” Bucky answered, not turning his eyes away from the water. “I’m here.”

“I know you really want to be the one to bring her in, but it’s been a month. We’re sending agents to take over the surveillance and bringing you both home.”

“No!” Bucky snapped before clearing his throat. “No. I don’t need to go. I’m fine here.”

“Buck-”

“Steve, please.” Bucky interrupted with an undercurrent of desperation in his voice.

Steve sighed and the line went silent for a moment.

“Nat, are you staying too?”

“No.” Bucky answered before Natasha could. “She was just telling me how much she missed her own bed. I’m fine to stay on my own.”

“You sure?” Nat and Steve asked in unison.

“Yeah.” Bucky replied, offering Nat a half smile. “Besides, you don’t even like the heat. I’ll be fine.”

“Okay. I’ll arrange for transport later today.” Steve replied.

“Hey Steve?”

“What’s up, Buck?”

“Send my bike over.”

“Sure thing.”

The Quinjet landed five hours later and Bucky helped Nat carry her stuff onboard and got his motorcycle off the jet. He gave Nat a hug and thanked her for putting up with him for the last month before watching the jet take off once more. The agents that had been assigned to take over the surveillance portion of the recovery mission seemed like they were fresh out of the academy. They went absolutely by the book and were overly formal when they spoke to Bucky, much to his dismay. He brought them back to the hotel and showed them the equipment that they had set up and the agents immediately got to work monitoring the various channels and outlets.

Fifteen days passed before Bucky was awoken by a pounding on the shared door between his and the agents’ rooms. He whipped the door open while rubbing the sleep from his eyes and stared down at the young man who had been knocking.

“Yeah?” Bucky questioned.

“Sir, we have another lead. There’s a video of a woman matching the target’s description emerging from the water approximately ten miles from here.”

“Send me the coordinates.” Bucky replied before shutting the door, just as the young agent was about to ask him about backup. He quickly threw his jacket on, and headed for the stairwell.

It took Bucky all of fifteen minutes to arrive at the location the agents had sent him. He turned his motorcycle off and stashed it in a spot where it would be convenient, but out of sight, just in case. As he quietly made his way through the empty fish market, he kept a watchful eye on his surroundings. He knew there was a chance that HYDRA may have also learned the woman’s whereabouts and could be there, and he also knew there was a chance the woman might hold some resentment towards him for the way their last meeting had ended…and that was also a potential dangerous situation.

“You.” A familiar voice cut through the silence, making Bucky tense in surprise.

Bucky searched the area around him but didn’t see the woman anywhere.

“I’m here as a friend.” Bucky replied, holding his hands up in a non-confrontational way.

“Not friend.” The woman replied, stepping out from a shadowed stall and into the harsh fluorescent light of the street lamps that lined the market. “Trust friend. You…no reason to trust.”

Bucky was momentarily speechless when he saw her again. She looked much better than the first time he’d seen her and a whole world better than the last time as well. Her skin had taken on an ethereal glow and her eyes were a calm blue, not unlike his own. Her hair was parted to one side and tied back in a braid crown with the bottom half hanging in wild, wet, curls the color of melted dark chocolate. The thing that snapped him out of his awe was the expression set in her small face. It was nothing less than betrayal and anger and it was directed at him.

“I know you don’t trust me.” He began. “And I understand why.” He slowly took a step towards the woman. “I just want to apologize for the way my friends reacted.”

The woman opened her mouth and asked a question in a language Bucky had never heard before. Something about the language felt old and deep; like something you should leave alone if you were ever to run across it. Something that shouldn’t be awoken. It left him feeling both unsettled and confused, which the woman must have seen on his face because she once again quietly moved her mouth, practicing the shapes of English words before turning back to Bucky and asking her question again.

“Friends here?”

“No.” Bucky replied honestly. “They’re all back in New York. Do you know where that is?”

The woman laughed softly, the sound producing the same soothing feeling that Bucky got when he watched a flowing river.

“Yes.” She replied. “Seven hours.” She hitched her thumb behind her in the direction of New York and looked back at Bucky.

“It’s a seven hour swim for you?” He asked, taking still more cautious steps towards her.

“Yes.” She narrowed her eyes at Bucky and pointed at his feet. “Stop.”

Bucky froze immediately and shrugged.

“Just trying to get closer so we don’t have to shout, Doll.”

“You lie.” She deadpanned. “Bad lie.”

“You’re right. That was a lie and I apologize for that.” Bucky said.

“Truth?”

“Truth is, Doll, those people that got us before are looking for you. They want to make you a weapon to hurt people with.” Bucky explained. “Honestly, I’m here looking for you too. The only difference is that we want to bring you somewhere safe.”

She rolled her eyes and exhaled a short laugh before replying in the old language again.

“I’m real sorry, but I don’t understand what you’re saying.” Bucky told her.

“Home safe.” She repeated after a moment, pointing at the water behind her. “Human…” she paused as she searched for the word and ended up just putting her fingertips together in a hollow ball shape and then quickly collapsing the space with a soft explosion noise. “Die before finding.”

Bucky was still just as confused about what she was trying to say, but he didn’t have a chance to try getting her to explain it again before there were suddenly shouts and the sounds of boots on the wooden deck. Without even having to look, Bucky knew HYDRA had found them. Without questioning it, he quickly closed the distance between himself and the woman and grabbed her by the arm before pulling her towards the exit and his stashed bike. They were cut off by soldiers before they could make it very far and Bucky quickly changed course and they headed into the large building that housed the rest of the market, slamming the heavy door behind them. He drug the woman behind a stall and pushed her back against the worn wood before crouching down himself and retrieving his pistol.

“Bad men?” The woman asked, breathing heavily and staring at Bucky with eyes that had gone light grey once more.

“Yeah.” He answered quietly, watching the door for the approaching soldiers. “Very bad men.”

“Fight again?”

“Looks that way, Doll.”

“No.” She replied in exasperation. “Me. You. Fight again?”

Bucky turned his attention away from the thudding at the door briefly and looked back at the woman. She was holding her hand out and looking at him questioningly.

“Yeah.” Bucky responded, taking her hand and offering a small smirk. “I’ve got your back.”

“I trust.” She told him, shaking his hand once and then pulling her hair out of her face and tying it up.

If the HYDRA operatives hadn’t managed to finally open the door at that exact moment, Bucky would have been able to notice the way his heart swelled when the woman said she trusted him. But, as luck would have it, the room went from a tense calm before the storm to a hurricane of bullets and blood. Bucky and the woman stuck close together and made their way through the first squad of operatives with relative ease. The woman tossed Bucky a rifle she ripped from someone’s arm and he watched as the arm dropped mid-air before he caught the previously attached rifle. The fighting continued as they crossed another squad on their way back across the docks. This time, the pair were separated for a moment as they both had to dive behind separate stalls for cover. As Bucky popped off another few rounds, he heard his companion shriek and then the sounds of panicking soldiers as they realized the threat they faced. Bucky couldn’t see the woman, but he could hear her as she fought and screamed again. He quickly made his way towards the screaming, shooting the straggling soldiers as he continued on. When he reached the entrance to the market, he found the woman covered in blood and surrounded by bodies. There was a sizable gash in her forehead, but she appeared otherwise unharmed.

“Damn, Doll. Remind me to stay on your good side.” He joked as he moved towards his hidden bike and rolled it into view. “Come on, we’ve got to go before-”

Bucky didn’t get to finish his sentence before a shot rang out and the woman suddenly reached out and threw him to the ground. As he looked up, he watched her face darken moments before she leapt over the bike and snatched up the last operative who had fired the shot. The man already looked like he was on the edge of death and he quickly met his end as the woman dug her fingers into his neck, severing his aorta before dropping him back to the ground to bleed out. She turned and made her way back to Bucky, reaching him just as he made it back to his feet and dusted himself off.

“Got your back.” She said before the corners of her mouth raised ever so slightly into a smile.

“Yeah, thanks for that.” Bucky replied before helping her climb onto the back of the bike and sliding on in front of her. He instructed her to hold around his waist and they were quickly fleeing the scene before the civilian personnel could show up. Bucky reached down and grabbed the woman’s wrist when he felt her grip loosen halfway through the trip back to the hotel.

“You okay back there?” He called over his shoulder. He felt her nod against his back in response and her grip tightened again.

Bucky knew something was wrong the third time her grip loosened and he had to hold onto her wrist to keep her from falling off. They reached the hotel and Bucky parked the bike and dismounted just in time to catch his woozy companion before she fell off the back.

“Woah, woah, woah.” He said with concern, slinging her arms over his shoulders and lifting her off her feet. Her legs wrapped around his waist and she buried her face into his neck with a groan of pain. “You’re hurt.”

“My head.” She mumbled softly.

“I’ll take a look at it.” Bucky replied, carrying her to the elevator and getting her up to the room. It wasn’t until he set her back on her feet that he saw just how pale both her skin and the blue of her eyes had become. He opened his mouth to ask how badly she’d been hurt, but barely got a word out before the woman crumpled to the ground and lost consciousness.


	4. Hiatus.

I'm sorry if anyone was actually enjoying this story, but I've chosen to retire it to the graveyard on my computer. It's just not what I want it to be and I've fallen out of love with it. Maybe in the future, I will find the time to make it as good as it is in my head, but for now I am going to stop updating it.

I'm sorry to anyone who liked it.


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